Treating ores



UNITED sr'ra PATENT OFFIQEI.

GEORGE L. COLLOR D, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

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No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE L. CoLLoRD, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Treating Ores, of which improvements the following is specification.

It is a peculiarity of some ores found in certain parts of the Mesaba region and also in other parts of the country that they contain a high percentage of moisture and are so lean that nearly all the moisture must be removed to raise the contained ore to a commercially workable percentage, 2. e., aboutfifty per cent. It has been attempted to dry out these ores to bring the ore content up to a minimum percentage justifying reduction in a furnace, but it was found that when the'moisture had been reduced to seven per cent. the ore was extremely dusty, in which condition it cannot be transported or used in a blast furnace, withoutundesirable loss.

It has been found that if an oleaginous material such as tar or some form of petroleum, be added to ores either before or while being dried, the oil will form a protective coating on all the particles of ore and that when solcoated, the percentage of moisture'can be reduced to or below three per cent. (3%) without the ore being disin tegrated in the drying.

The oil or tar employed should have a vaporizing point above that of the tempera-.

ture employed in the driers which may of any suitable form or construction. the ores are quite moist, 2'. 6. containing a considerable percentage of water, two and one-half or three per cent. of the oil or tar will be sufficient to coat all the ore particles,

as the presence of the water causes the tar Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 113 15 1920; Application filed May 9, 1919. Serial No. 296,030. I v i or oil to 'spread in thin films over the particles.

The tar or oil may be applied' to the' ore either before the latter is charged into the drier or may be added while the ore is being dried, as the elimination of the excess of moisture can be effected without destroying or injuriously' affecting the coating. In .practice it is preferred to reduce-themois ture to about two orthree per cent. as it has been found that the film coated materials with about two or three per cent. of moisture, will assume a granular form and will be entirely free of dust.

I claim herein as my invention:

1. The method herein described of treate ing moist ores, which consists in adding to the ores a liquid adapted to spread through the mass of ore and form a thin film around the particles orsmall bodies of ore, and having a vaporizing temperature higher than that of'the contained moisture, and reducing the percentage of moisture.

2. The method herein described in treating lean ores having a high percentage of moisture, which consists in eliminating'the moisture to a sufficient extent to raise the percentage of iron to a commercially usable degree and causing an agglomeration of the dust due to the elimination of the moisture by mingling an oleaginous material with the ore. H In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE L. COLLORD. 

